the Thing
by Zabu-no-jutsu
Summary: Oh dear. Quite a few YuGiOh bishounen and otherwise seem to have found their way into the real world, and are bent on harrassing a pair of reallife teenage girls. Blood, violence, chibis and danishes result. Pairings: a bit of YamixYugi, just for fun.
1. Randomness, anyone?

...Okay, so this started out because I was bored and needed a time-waster. I emailed my friend, Maria Elena, that first time in story-mode, and... it quickly morphed from a story to a roleplay-type thing, then to a fanfiction ;; So it starts off really randomly, with no real point and abysmal writing skills. But as it went on, we both started getting really into it and it's become a great story; at least from our point of view. We'd like to know what you think too!

I don't know when it'll end, if ever, so I'll just keep posting it up whenever we gather enough new material for a new chapter.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, Yu-Gi-Oh! doesn't belong to us. If it did...well, you'll see.

Some Japanese words you may or may not want to know:  
_bakamono -_ stupid person  
_che - _shit  
_urusai -_ shut up  
_ahou -_ fool  
_aibou - _partner  
_gomen - _sorry  
(Wow, that almost sounds like some kind of conversation XD)

OH. The chibis - my friends and I have a joke that we all have chibis of our favorite manga characters living in our heads, and that's why we're all insane. Excuses, excuses.

ON WITH THE MADNESS!

**--**

**Hannah**

"GOOD MORNING!" she yelled, jerking Maria Elena out of a sound sleep. "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty!" (I'm really bored, can you tell?) "Well, I'm off to do my math homework before my parents get home from grocery shopping. Talk to ya later!" She waved and grinned nonchalantly then got up, tripped over the chair leg, then strode quickly out of the room blushing furiously, trying to recover her dignity.

**Maria Elena**

Maria Elena laughed, very confused as to why they were writing a story through email. She grinned, thinking about how she had already done her homework, and then a dark cloud descended upon her as she remembered that she had to go along to her brother's early birthday party and make sure that five 3rd grade boys didn't get out of hand. At least she'd had enough sleep though, since she had slept in until 10:45 that morning, and she was getting paid in songs. She did not show any of misgivings, though, and called, "Have a good time with your homework, Hannah!" although Hannah had probably already done her homework by now, and scurried away so one, she might be able to talk to Hannah in the hall and two, so that her mother wouldn't get mad at her. Hannah was already far away, though, so she muttered to herself, "Ah, perhaps I'll catch her in the elevator."

**Hannah**

"We're in a hotel?" Hannah wondered. "Ah well. Whoo! Continental breakfast!" she cried as she ran off after Mari-El-san, saving her from said 3rd grade boys by throwing them Danishes and donuts and pulling her away while they're busy stuffing their faces. She then grinned and tried to show Maria Elena the picture she was working on (since he had finished her math), only to remember that she had left it in her hotel room. She then assured her friend, quite unnecessarily, that it was emotional, cute, and Yu-Gi-Oh! fanart. Remembering that she had had an idea for a comic earlier, she dashed off to finish it, leaving a windblown and confused Maria Elena in her wake.

**Maria Elena**

Mari-el-san wondered who had finished Hannah's math homework, since it said he had finished her math homework, and then decided it was a typo. Also wondering how Hannah had gotten behind her, scared off all the 3rd grade boys, and run off again, without her even getting to the elevator, she did a double take and hurried after Hannah, not realizing that she had gone the complete wrong direction. Not finding Hannah, she retreated to her room, which apparently was now in a hotel, to clear up the last bit of the introduction for her portfolio because she didn't like it very much.

**Hannah**

Hannah scowled at the typographical error, which she had only noticed _after_ she had sent the email off. She then decided she had forced her brother to do her homework for her and happily forgot all about it. Knocking on Maria Elena's door, she burst in without any acknowledgement and said, "I'll bring that picture that's 'still in my hotel room' to school tomorrow, if I manage to finish it. The likelihood of that is actually quite high, since I have a lot of homework to do tonight." She grinned devilishly, turned on her heel, and tried to leave the room--tripping over the scattered remains of rejected portfolio pages. "Agh. Falling--over," she grunted, and picked herself up from the floor. "Oh, yes!" She seemed to remember something. "Didn't I tell ya Yami looked freakish in the first volume? Didn't I? Hah!" She grinned and bonked Maria Elena over the head with Volume 2. "You get _this_ tomorrow. Bakamono." And, giggling insanely, she sped out of the room, bits of paper trailing in her wake.

**Maria Elena**

Maria Elena rubbed her head, wondering how Hannah could be such a bad person that she would tease her like that. She started crying, but laughing through her tears at Hannah's clumsiness. Then she wondered what bakamono meant, and started crying again since she felt left out. "Hannah, if you have homework, then how are you going to draw your picture...?" she called out. Hannah did not answer, so she went out into the hall. Hannah had apparently done a disappearing act again, so she decided to visit Hannah's room. She got in the elevator, at which time it decided to stick between floors. Not knowing what to do, she pressed a bunch of random buttons, and managed to make an alarm go off. She burst into tears for the third time that hour. "What will I do?" she cried. "First I forget my sock book, now this! I'm going to die! WAHHHHHHHH! Now Hannah's going to make fun of me when she finds out, too! HEEEELPP MEEEE SOMEONE!"

Hannah 

Hannah, hearing Maria Elena's disparaging wailing, felt tears come to her own eyes, grabbed her trusty ax, and immediately rushed down the stairs to help her friend. She started chopping wildly at the wall, tears forgotten in her rage against all things technological. Finally managing to break a hole in the wall large enough to slip through, she then realized she was on the wrong floor. Jumping down through the crack, she opened the conveniently placed hatch on top of the elevator and motioned to Maria Elena, reaching down a hand to help lift her up. "Mari-el-san! Up here!" she said, as the sobbing girl lifted her tearstained face to look upon the face of her savior. (This is getting emotional, eh?) Realizing it was only Hannah; she stopped crying and hit her with the medieval mace she had stored in her pocket. "Che..." Hannah mumbled as she went unconscious from both head trauma and shock. Yugi and Yami, two of the chibis in her head, suddenly came into being, rubbing their heads and grimacing. "That hurt, ya know," Yugi squeaked, and the two near-identical boys started chanting. The chant was Egyptian, one used for a magical healing ritual. The gash on their mistress's head healed as the light from twin Millennium Puzzles faded, and the chibis glared at a bewildered Maria Elena one last time before fading back into the realm of thought. Hannah sat up and muttered, "I owe them one..." before offering a hand to Mari-el-san once more and helping them both to escape. "I _was_ just teasing, you know... bakamono means stupid person. I just like to mess with ya." She winked and continued, "Remember, how I said I do most of my best art while I'm supposed to be doing something else? That's how I'll get it finished. Hn. Sorry you forgot your Sock book. The homework's not _that_ hard, you'll be able to get it done before class." She smiled happily and said, "Good luck. I need to get going now..." and sauntered down the hall, waiting to see if her friend wanted to talk more...

**Maria Elena**

Mari-el-san said "Hey! Wait up! You shouldn't swear, you know. Not that we're not going to hell anyway...OOO! Double negative!" Hannah giggled at the very little that was needed to make her friend happy, and soon they both were lost in laughter. Gasping for breath, the two made their way down the hallway. "Anyway," said Mari-el-san, "I was just coming to see you. The elevator doesn't work, though! tear I wonder if there's monsters in the stairs..."

"Of course not, silly," said Hannah, walking over to the stairwell. "We're in a _hotel_, for goodness sake." She opened the door to the stairs, and the two girls both saw the total lack of monsters. "But- what if the monsters are farther down?" asked Mari-el-san. As Hannah could find no comeback to this, the two started down the stairs. As they got farther and farther in, however, they found that it became harder and harder to see where they were going. The staircase coiled around the elevator shaft, so even going down the staircase was dizzying. "If only I had a light," said Hannah. "You mean you don't?" said Mari-el-san, reaching into her bottomless pocket and and pulling out a flashlight.

"No, why else would we be walking in the dark?" said Hannah sarcastically. "Oh, is it dark?" asked Mari-el-san. Hannah hit her over the head. "Of course it's dark, you dummy! Can't you see?"

"OW! Hannah hit me..."  
"Did she really, now?" said a voice from the shadows. Mari-el-san promptly turned on the flashlight that was still in her hand. Standing there was a figure clothed all in black. Above them and below them, shadows just like this one were standing, cutting off the escape. They were trapped.

**Hannah**

"...Holy. Crap," Hannah breathed. "You... you wouldn't happen to be bishies brought to life from the pages of books, would you? Or just our friends, playing a joke on us?" In the light from Maria Elena's flashlight, the teeth of the shadowed figure closest to them glimmered as he grinned evilly. "That could mean either one... but I'm guessing you're not our friends." She gulped, then mind-cast, _Chibis! I need your help! Maria Elena, if... _But it was no use. The tiny, child-like versions of beloved manga characters manifested momentarily, hanging off both girls' hair and clothing, hugging their ankles and gently comforting them, but all squeaked softly, "Gomen." Sorry. "There's nothing we can do against them," and faded out of being.

The three figures lowered their hoods simultaneously. Hannah caught a glimpse of spiking white hair before an undeniably evil voice growled, "Urusai, ahou." The light of the flashlight went out with a spark of deep purple light, and red eyes glinted evilly in the remnants of the shadow magic before everything went dark...

**Maria Elena**

Mari-el-san's head hurt. That was all she knew. " Where am I...?" she said groggily as she sat up slowly, her vision blurred. An evil voice echoed around her head. She had to be in an enclosed space, then. It felt like she was lying on a floor somewhere. How had she gotten from a stairwell with a bunch of chibis saying they couldn't help her to here? Chibis. Hannah. Where was Hannah? Stupid blurry vision. She lay back down, being careful with her head.

"Heh heh...looks like our prisoner's awake." Trouble. That sounded like that evil voice she'd heard earlier, _and_ the voice on the stairs.

"Where...am I?" Mari-el-san repeated her request through cracked lips, sitting up again. It was only then that she realized that she needed something to drink. How long had she been unconscious, anyway?

"Don't. Ask. Questions." With the last remark, the voice punctuated his remark by punching Mari-el-san in the face. He then yanked the now rather bloody Mari-el-san to her feet.

"But-I can't...see" protested Mari-el-san

"That's the point. If you could see, you'd know where you were. The spell I put on the two of you in the stairwell should last for quite a while." The evil voice and Mari-el-san walked in silence for a while.

"Where's Ha-"

"Do you want a broken nose? It would go nicely with the rest of your face. I wouldn't worry about your friend. She's just fine." Mari-el-san was now officially worried. Something in that voice suggested sarcasm to her. She kept walking. There wasn't much other choice, unless she wanted a broken nose.

"Ah, here we are," said the voice, snickering. Mari-el-san heard a door open. At that moment, her vision cleared. Across the room, Hannah was lying on a stone tablet as if dead.

**Hannah**

(Oh my gosh! I knew I was going to be sacrificed to the demon overlord!) (Kidding, just kidding...)

Pain. Indescribably burning, the inferno of pain that was Hannah's broken body somehow managed to lift her head at the sound of the man's voice. "Whrr... Mari...?" She grimaced, and called weakly to her chibis as her head fell back onto the tablet. "Y-yu..." The boy's tri-colored hair almost seemed to droop as he materialized and saw her condition. Although unmarked, he knew that powerful shadow magic was oozing slowly through her body, eating away at her very essence. He knew he needed his yami's help for this, and called him forth worriedly.

As the two set to work on banishing the shadows, the man turned to Maria Elena. A flash of recognition raced through her mind, and she knew who the man was. "B-Bakura! How did you get out...?" Her voice trailed off as she searched his face. This was most definitely _not_ the nice Bakura, though she could sense some goodness wavering out of his crimson eyes, a flash of Ryou as he tried to retake control. One of Maria Elena's own chibis, Ryou, hid himself behind her hair and murmured comfort softly. "D-don't worry... he... _I'll_ find a way..." he lilted, somehow putting truth behind the words.

"Y-you're... supposed to be a manga character...!" Maria Elena shrieked.

Rage registered in the deep pools of bloodlust that shone from the thief king's face, and he slapped her again. Hard. "Silence, impudent mortal," he hissed, and turned away. "Marik. Tie her up as well."

Another sinister laugh echoed around the room, and this time lavender glinted in the purple light of shadow. "Keh keh keh... with pleasure." The Millennium Rod flashed, and Maria Elena couldn't move a muscle. A strange light flowed through her, and the dark powers binding her body were gone. "Che! She has a resistance! ...Yami. Take _care _of her." The way he put emphasis on the word scared her, but not as much as what she saw then...

**Maria Elena**

The third shadow stepped out of the shadows at the side of the room. He had been waiting for just this moment. "You require my services, lord?" he asked. Without waiting for Bakura's answer, he turned to face Mari-el-san. She gasped. Gone from his eyes were any traces of the Pharaoh. They were black, as black as the shadows that Yami hid in. Around his neck hung the Millennium Puzzle that she had seen before, but this too was tarnished with darkness.

"You...you..."

"Urusai, ahou." Yami seemed to grow darker. The darkness that she had sensed in him at first seemed to be growing, and she knew he was calling dark magic from the Millennium Puzzle. All Mari-el-san could do was watch, terrified and frozen with shock as Yami called forth dark spirits. Yami's dark magic came spiraling towards her in a purple blast, knocking her to the ground but otherwise doing nothing.

"nleh..." Mari-el-san gasped for breath, wondering how she had survived.

"Lord, she has a resistance. I can do nothing," said Yami. A resistance? How? This was black magic. How could she have any magical talent whatsoever? It wasn't as if she belonged in their story, anyway. That couldn't have anything to do with it, though, since Hannah was still lying on the tablet.

"Then our magic can do nothing to her. I had thought that she would not be taken that easily; after all, their spirits are not like those of others. Is that not what we came for?" said Bakura. Is that not what we came for...

"You were looking for us?" asked Mari-el-san.

"Silence, child," said Bakura, punching her in the face yet again. To the others, he said, "After all, we only captured the other girl with the strongest shadows there are. There are no more of those, then?"

"No, lord," said Yami. "Would you like me to use other methods?"  
"Yes, do," said Bakura. Yami's dark eyes stared into Mari-el-san's. She felt as if she were falling into a pool of darkness, but then something pulled her back. It was the sound of Hannah's voice.

**Hannah **

"Ahou," she snapped, "you'll never bind her that way. You're only stalling. To catch a girl, you'll need the quick intellect of another one..." Yami and hikari, the chibi pair, had been silenced: their small bodies dissolving into purple and white sparks, respectively, then fading out.

_"I __knew__ she'd be like this,"_ Bakura snarled in a whisper to Marik, _"Powerful women are always full of themselves!" _

"I _heard _that," Hannah purred silkily, and left it at that. Bakura sneered in a characteristic grimace, and Hannah giggled maliciously. Suddenly, something caught her eyes, and her head snapped to the side.

Yami's large, dark eyes wavered, and he looked positively frantic as he clutched his head and moaned, trying to keep something... or some_one_ at bay. The darkness faded and was replaced by flashing amethyst as the light forced his way out. Only for a moment, but the damage was done. As shineless, sheened jet-black again quenched the hikari's bright eyes, Hannah twitched, jerked, then slumped back against the tablet. A dark mist rose from her body, flew about the room restlessly, then separated and settled back into the three shadows. Hannah's eyelids fluttered open, and saw Maria Elena's battered face. "My... friend. The shadows... tell me... b-bring out their light... or be... ex...tinguished..." Her head fell back with a dull _thump_, and with bright flashes of opposing light, the two chibi almost-twins came to sit on her shoulders and lay their palms on her cheeks.

"She'll be fine," they assured her, "and regain consciousness soon. We'll do what we can to hurry her along." Two identical pendants began to glow, and they closed their eyes to begin the healing.

"...My Lords." Yami was repentant. "Gomen. Such a blunder won't happen again. My... other half has been sealed away."

"How... _good_ of you to remember that, you _fool." _Marik spat, the end of his sentence turning into an ugly snarl. "_If _it happens again, we'll be sure to... _remove_ the impediment..."

Fear colored the ex-Pharaoh's features, though his eyes remained painfully blank.

Maria Elena, meanwhile, was puzzling over how she was expected to... what was it? 'Bring out their light?' If, by that, the shadows had meant to bring their hikaris back in control, she knew she couldn't bring Yugi back first, though he would undoubtedly be the easiest to find. They would only kill him. That left Marik and Bakura to work on. She was bewildered as to how to do it for a moment, then remembered her chibi Ryou. What were his powers? Maybe he could help her somehow...

**Maria Elena**

There was not much time to ponder this, however, as the three menacing individuals were soon fixated on Hannah. Without thinking, Mari-el-san rushed to protect her friend.

"You can't-"

"Says who?" asked Bakura menacingly. "You honestly think you're going to stop me? Urusai!" Black light shot from all three of the dark figures, the darkness that had been freed from Hannah. It slammed into Mari-el-san, knocking her head back against the tablet with a crack.

"Ry... ou..." gasped Mari-el-san, and then gave in to the darkness. Chibi Ryou appeared around her head. This time he could see the shadows of immense power that had been used to bind her soul. "Oh, dear." he said.

Bakura looked around. Seeing the chibi, he swatted him out of the way, or at least attempted to. The moment his hands touched the chibi, he froze. Trapped in between time and space, he was unable to move.

Meanwhile, Hannah was waking up. She saw Mari-el-san's body and the figure of Bakura frozen. She put two and two together and came up with five. Such was the nature of this puzzle...

**Hannah**

Shaking her head to clear it, Hannah immediately thanked her two little friends, smiling worriedly on her shoulders. Chibis could get testy if not treated properly. She then turned her mind to the task at hand and swiftly assessed the situation. One friend (out cold), one evil bishounen, one _frozen_ evil bishounen, and a bishie under a spell. With only her and a handful of chibis to combat the darkness, the odds didn't look good. She figured she had a while before the shadows completely took Maria Elena over, so she'd be out of the picture for a couple of minutes, at least.

Ryou, still hanging on to Bakura's finger to keep him frozen, had both of the remaining villains' attention. The time for action was now!

"Yugi! If you can hear me in there, _break free!_" yelled Hannah. Yami's face contorted in a mixture of pain, rage, and confusion. _What to do... what do I do about Marik? He doesn't _**_have_**_ a light side! _Hannah thought frantically.

"Why, you--!" Marik snarled, and surged forward, arms outstretched. Knowing he couldn't use his shadow power on her, he unsheathed the lethally sharp knife kept in the handle of the Millennium Rod and tackled her, pinning her to the ground. The knife was at her throat, drawing the merest drops of blood when, without warning, a golden light flashed and Marik was thrown across the room, cloak rippling and golden adornments jangling together. She raised her head and propped herself up on her elbows to see... an amazingly short high school boy with interestingly star-shaped, tri-coloured hair, his sharp purple eyes glinting dangerously.

"Your souls... are _my_ prey," he cackled, an amazingly out-of-place noise coming from such an innocent face. His irises darkened, flashed red, then lost all colour and emotion.

Hannah dashed to where Maria Elena was still lying, and shook her by the shoulders, willing her to wake up and help her. She turned to chibi Yugi and Yami, but they were still lying where they had landed when Marik had threatened her with his knife. They panted hard, magic exhausted, and managed to shake their heads. They couldn't help anymore. Yami got up and helped Yugi to his feet. They hugged briefly, then faded out.

_What... what do I do _**_now?!_**

**Maria Elena**

Yugi, his red eyes dangerously flashing, turned toward Hannah. The shadows in his eyes were as fire as he slowly called up magic that would incinerate her. Hannah covered her face with her hands, hoping that this action would somehow protect her.

_There was blood on her hands. Her own blood, she realized, as she could feel the gash on the side of her head. It was simply blood, however. Inconsequential. It was not as if it mattered how much blood was on her hands. There had been much of that, over the years... _Eyes, now stained black, flickered open. Seeing the scene at hand, they turned darker with shadow power, and their owner released a blast of magic that knocked Yugi across the room to join Marik against the wall. She felt no emotion. After all, he was only a small villain that thought he could hold the power of the shadows in check. The only person besides her in this room with any real power was the girl lying beside her covering her face. "Che..."she muttered. This girl had incredible powers of light. She did not appear to know it, though. Perhaps that would come in handy later on. She could always kill her now, of course, but perhaps she could make that power her own.

"M-Mari-" Hannah said, realizing that the blast she'd been expecting wasn't going to come. She faltered, seeing the shadows in her friend's eyes. The shadow girl that had once been known as Maria Elena snickered, and extended a hand to help her up. This girl was stupid, the shadow girl realized. She had no idea of the power that dwelled within her, and yet she expected to beat these figures strewn around the room. These figures were only wisps compared to the shadows' power, and yet if she hadn't woken up, this girl would be dead by now. Bakura and his band, these figures all out of commission, were a joke. They expected to harness the power of the two girls, one that she was currently possessing, and the other that girl in front of her, and still keep the shadows in check. Well, she had proven them wrong. Now she had been released into the world, and two plus two would always add up to five.

**Hannah**

Hannah saw the flames of darkness burning in her once-friend's eyes. She dodged under the outstretched hand, knocking it upward with the top of her back. Now running across the room, she slid to a stop, heels skidding on the rough floor. She knelt beside the prone form of Yugi, hoping against hope that he could be awakened and, somehow, convinced to help her. The shadow of Maria Elena watched her coldly, but with a flicker of twisted amusement. _This could be interesting,_ she thought, _let's see what __she __can do..._

Hannah grasped the boy with tri-coloured hair roughly by the shoulders and shook him. "Wake up! Get up! I need your help! No..." she trailed off, tears coming to her eyes as he stayed unconscious, head lolling limply from side to side. "N-no... No! _I_ _won't let you do this!" _she shrieked, turning to the last shadow left. Her eyes burned gold, and a light gathered at her fingertips, now outstretched to the dark figure across the room. _"Hika- _**_ri!_**_" _She uttered the word like a spell, and the light stretched, growing at her voice. She held it first in one palm, then grasped it in both hands as it continued to swell.

Behind her, two sets of eyes, amethyst and lavender, flickered open as the mere presence of the light cleansed them of shadow. As one, they rose and stood behind her; shining gold artifacts adding to the near-blinding light Hannah was conjuring. "We're with you... arigato," Yugi murmured to the teen, now struggling under her own power. His other half appeared beside him in spirit form and added his own considerable power to the mix, purple darkness intermingling with the gold. "It takes a touch of darkness to make darkness disappear," he intoned, and all turned their gazes to the ever-so-slightly quavering shadow girl across the room.

"That's all well and good, but there's one here you _haven't _cleansed,"she snarled, and stretched a hand to the still-frozen Bakura. A faint, purple mist started to steam from his body, but a sudden glow banished it as Ryou, a determined scowl on his face, regained control of his own body. The tiny chibi still in his hand, he went over to stand with the glowing group, though he could not help since he had no control over his Millennium item.

"I... I'm not sorry," Hannah managed to gasp, and finally released the globe of light. It blazed across the room, leaving cinders and glowing patterns in its wake, then hit the girl and absorbed into her body. An incredible battle raged behind her closed eyelids, and finally an inky-black cloud rose from her and simply hung, ominously.

_Looking for a new host! _Yami realized first, and switched out with his partner to shield him from harm. The shadows recognized him as the strongest and most versed in shadow power in the room, and surged toward him, surrounding and blocking him from view. The light of the Millennium Puzzle pierced the darkness, and the shadows' unearthly, hollow shrieking was like knives being driven through all within hearing range. The darkness, broken to shards, clove the air and flew directly into the Pharaoh's skull.

He blinked. Blinked again. "Oh, Ra..." he groaned, "my head..." and promptly collapsed onto the stone floor.

--

Oh noes, the cliffhanger! It buuurrnnssssssssss -melts and dies-

More of this coming soon; we've enough stuff already to do at least two and a half more chapters...I just need to get around to editing them. There are so many typos...


	2. Now it's gettin' good

Here 'tis, part two. Gosh, I sure know how to procrastinate, don't I? There it is, all written, and I'm too lazy to proofread.

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to neither my friend nor I. Though I'm sure life would be a lot more fun if it did.

Ahh...okay, some interesting things happening here. We are, in fact, two different people writing this. As such, there are a few discrepancies/continuity flaws, as well as underdeveloped or forgotten plot spurs. I tried to leave in any A/Ns that explain stuff like that. Please bear with us!

--

**Maria Elena**

Across the room, Mari-el-san coughed up blood and passed out, the darkness once again gone from her eyes. However, all was not yet well. Yami, currently unconscious as well, would turn dark as soon as the shadows had completely overpowered him. Ryou was dangerously teetering between being Ryou and once again becoming Bakura. Chibi Ryou had faded out as a result of being in contact with evil for so long. Marik would be trouble soon, seeing as Hannah's spell was wearing off as she became unable to support its power. As for Yugi, he was trapped somewhere inside himself, and nobody knew when he would be of any use at all, or whether he would even be able to help them. Hannah, not knowing what else to do, crossed to her friend's body. There was a faint pulse, but she could tell it would be a long time before her friend woke up. As Marik's evil side was trying to win out over her spell, he was unconscious as well. Hannah knew, although she wished to deny it to herself, that she would have to battle the shadows on her own. Or so she thought.

A figure appeared at the door to the room, escorted by more shadowy figures. He stumbled, cursing, then extended a hand to help Hannah up.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I am called Lylas. Lylas Nasturi. Where in Elemeron are we?"  
Hannah did not answer for several moments, then said, "Somewhere where two plus two equals five."

Hannah 

_**...Intermission...**_

"For Ra's sake, STOP ENDING YOUR EMAILS WITH THAT WHOLE 'TWO PLUS TWO EQUALS FIVE' THING!!!" Hannah shrieked angrily as the two friends resurfaced from their fantasy world. "It was meaningful the first time and still pretty cool the second time, but _it's just getting old now," _she snarled, raising her pen as though to strike a shocked Maria Elena. "And who said you could incorporate characters I know almost nothing about??! How am I supposed to type dialogue _or_ good actions for characters that I don't have personalities for? This is a straight fanfic, not a cross-over. That was kind of _supposed _to be nearly the ending, too. I _didn't _want to be in another whole hopeless situation. My power of light should have been strong enough to keep at least Marik and Bakura clean, even if Yami's being eaten by the darkest shadows." She glared, breathing hard after her long tirade. "It would have been fun to make Yami the strongest, and all of us would have to struggle against him. You can stay bloody on the floor if you want, though," she said, smirking maliciously. "Please don't count this as part of the story, and reply back with explanations and/or changes soon. Hannah, over and out."

_**...seriously wtf?...**_

**Maria Elena**

_**...Intermission cont.**_

"Hmmmm, I wondered if you'd say something like that. Lylas is from my story, remember? If you want, make Mlero show up. Don't know, I think it's incorporated. Anyway, I don't want it to end yet! It's fun, writing this! Besides, you can always make something happen to him if you don't want to deal with his personality. He's a bit of an idiot, and kinda over the top with the whole chivalry thing, but that could work to your advantage. Who says this can't be a crossover, anyway? You're the one who made it into a fanfic in the first place! Besides, you could be a bit harder on yourself, you know, if you don't want to be in so many hopeless situations. Generally, when you're unconscious, the other person has to take on the story for a while. However, I don't really care. What's done is done, and I like the story the way it is. By the way, I wanted to stay evil for quite a while longer. You don't usually get your way when the other person's writing half the story. But that's half the fun, isn't it?

On the topic of two plus two equaling five, here's a bit of philosophy for you. The world is an inequality. It makes sense in ways that don't make sense at all. Most of the time, two plus two does equal five, and millions of wrongs can make a right. Think about it."

Having finished her speech, Mari-el-san started to dive back into the fantasy world, hoping that perhaps Hannah would follow.

Hannah 

"...Baka," Hannah muttered, "yes, the world is not always quite right in the head, but you keep using the same line over and over! Gah," was her exasperated sigh, and she bonked her friend over the head with her pen.

"Wah! Hannah hit meeee!" Maria Elena whined, and suddenly a voice said with dark amusement:

"Did she really, now?" pulling them both back into the world of fantasy.

_**Intermission over. Seriously, stop with the cheesy elevator music already!**_

Hannah sighed, then scowled darkly at the intruding morons. "I don't need your help. I'm doing _just fine _here on my own."

Lylas surveyed the room. One white-haired teen, looking rather insanely malicious, one with light-blonde super-saiyan hair glaring as though he were already plotting their horrible deaths (fingering some odd scepter/axe-looking device), one with quite possibly the oddest hair he'd ever seen out cold on the floor, radiating evil, and one other girl, knocked out in a pool of her own blood. He opened his mouth to speak.

"..." was about as far as he got.

_"NO. I don't want you here,"_ she snarled, eyes burning. Then she saw the skeptical look on the boy's face, and realized it wasn't going to work. So she changed her tone. "Really, I'm more competent than I look. And these guys..." she glanced across the room and took in the sets of gleaming eyes and their murderous intent. "Your souls aren't strong enough. They'll immobilize you in an instant, and kill you later for fun."

"Now, _that _idea appeals to me _immensely_," Bakura said, finally having silenced his hikari. He stretched a (smexily British) arm out and curled his fingers, leaving only the index outstretched. A pulsating light flashed, and Lylas and his army were thrown back and frozen against the wall. Bakura's sinister laugh echoed about the room as he threw his head back and reveled in pure, dark enjoyment.

Lylas, unnoticed by the insane spirits across the room, was inching forward shakily, as best he could, with one arm outstretched. Hannah saw his slight resistance and stretched out to take his hand, but he simply dropped what was in it into her palm and was slammed back against the dungeon wall by the shadow magic.

Hannah peered closely at the object in her hand. It seemed familiar somehow, but she couldn't quite place where she'd seen it before...

**Maria Elena**

"Ghhh..." Mari-el-san groaned, having managed to wake up after being possessed by evil spirits. Wondering if Hannah was right in the head, since she was apparently going bishie-crazy, she saw the object that Hannah was holding.

"Isn't that-" Interrupting this comment, Lylas and company disappeared in a flash of violet; presumably back to their own story.

"-a marble?" This round object that Hannah was holding looked as if it were made of ebony, of shadows. Inside, however, she could see a faint light. Mari-el-san touched it momentarily, as if she could figure out the strange balance of power trapped within, and found what she'd wanted to see, in a matter of speaking. A figure, wispy as smoke at first rose out of the stone, gradually solidifying as it went. Jonouchi appeared out of the mist surrounding him, a demonic, bloodshot look in his eyes. As the two girls looked over at Marik, they saw that he was still out and doing absolutely nothing with the Millennium Rod. Therefore, they had a new foe. This battle was not yet over.

Hannah 

"Jonouchi?? But... he's not a Millennium item holder! Why...?" Hannah was suddenly knocked out of her bishie-induced haze by the introduction of this very un-bishounen-ish character. "L-Ly... why did Lylas give me this if it wasn't going to help? And how did Marik glare at me if he's still out cold ?! Trick of the light, I suppose..." She looked over at Maria Elena. "Since we're both awake at the same time for once, I suppose we'd better figure out a plan."

Maria Elena tried to wipe off some of the blood off her shirt, but it had dried on and her actions did little good. "How about... a blood ritual?"

"Nah... too messy. Besides, who are we going to sacrifice? You? We'll have a lot of angry fangirls on our tails if we get rid of any of the bishies."

"Since when have you not liked blood? ...no, you're right. More flashing lights and prophecies?"

"I already did that."

"Well, let's hear _you _come up with an idea, then!"

While those two were squabbling, Jonouchi simply stood there as if in a daze. Come to think of it, he _was _in a daze. Or, rather, a trance. He snapped out of it, however, when he saw the object still clasped in Hannah's wildly flailing hand. He leapt forward and snatched it from her grasp, eliciting a gasp of shock from Hannah, who had almost forgotten he was there. The dazed, bloodshot look had left his eyes, and he said urgently, "I haven't got long, but listen! This is something kinda like a crystal ball. It'll let you talk to one of them," he gestured to the dark characters on the other side of the room, "and give one, and _only_ _one_ of their other halfs a corporeal body! Choose quickly, I'm the only one who can make it work..."

Sorry, I hadn't explained it earlier... but in my last bit of the story, Marik _woke up. _I kind of hoped you'd notice by the way he was glaring at us, but I guess you didn't read it very closely. Make it either way you want.

**Maria Elena**

Marik, who had been awake the entire time, snatched the marble out of Jonouchi's hand, at which point Hannah realized where she had seen the stone before. It was not actually anything from a story, which had confused her a bit at first. It was a precious stone that was usually in the hotel lobby, although how Lylas had gotten ahold of it she had no idea.

Mari-el-san had realized by now that, as Marik didn't have a "good side," she had no idea how to turn him against Bakura and Yami. She blurted out, "Marik" to Jonouchi, which did absolutely nothing for the moment, seeing as he wasn't currently holding the stone. However, hearing his name made Marik jump with surprise. He dropped it on the ground, whereupon Hannah scooped it up. Having come to the same conclusions as Mari-el-san, she gave the stone to Jonouchi and said, quite calmly, "Marik."

Jonouchi took the stone and said a short chant over it. As his voice faded, a mist seemed to spread out of Marik, solidifying into a figure. The real Marik's eyes rolled back into his head, and the misty figure spoke.

"Hello," it said. "I'm Marik." Thinking this was insanely funny, Hannah began to laugh. "What's so funny?" 'Marik' asked. Hannah pointed to the real Marik lying on the floor. "That's Marik," she said.

"Ahh," said the figure. "That explains a lot. I haven't spoken to anybody in a long time..."

**Hannah**

"So... you're the Marik from before the ritual with the whole burning-knives-Pharaoh's-secret-carved-into-your-back thing?" Hannah asked between fits of giggles.

Marik's eyes glazed for a moment in anger at the memory, then, "Yes. I am he."

"That makes sense, since you're so small," Hannah pointed out. It was true; the figure before them was no more than a young boy of about 10 years old, eyes still wide and innocent. The ritual had been performed when Marik was only 10, so it made perfect sense that his real self had been sealed away in hatred and grudge since that very day.

"I have been watching, from behind his eyes. I know what he has done, though he has strong mental barriers, so I know not what he was thinking." For one so young, child-Marik's lavender eyes showed great wisdom. "I am no stranger to darkness, nor to blood or magic. I believe I can help. I have power... somewhat like Jonouchi's. I can bring one more back from within himself. It may be... unpredictable, but I think I can do it. Ryou will not be of any assistance, but Yugi... he has a strong bond with the Pharaoh. He may be able to bring him back."

Hannah and Maria Elena watched the young, vaguely translucent boy ponder, not wanting to interrupt his thoughts. But at the mention of his hikari's name, the Pharaoh began to stir, eyelids fluttering ever so slightly. Child-Marik hurriedly took the Millennium Rod from his modern counterpart, somehow able to touch it even with his slight ghostliness. He pointed it at Yami's prone form, and muttered something vaguely Arabic-sounding as the Wadjet Eye on its surface began to glimmer. Yami seemed to splice in two while still remaining whole, and a very solid Yugi unfolded himself from wherever he had been hidden, in the shadows of his yami.

"That's it. It is done," child-Marik panted. "I can no longer handle the Rod, for something stirs in its shadows. It is almost as if... someone else struggles to be freed..." He looked at the Rod in confusion, then his eyes followed its path as it slid directly through his ghostly hand and clanked dully against the floor.

Yugi, meanwhile, slid the Millennium Puzzle off of his yami's neck and put it over his own head. "It belongs with me," he said, frowning at its coldness. "With him, it only adds to his power." He looked over his partner, and a very slight blush crept over his features, only to be replaced with disgust and hurt at what the Pharaoh had become. His amethyst eyes shone, and a single tear dropped down his cheek. He looked over at the girls. "I will do whatever needs to be done."

**Maria Elena**

Jonouchi, meanwhile, had faded somewhat, almost into nothingness as his purpose had now been served.

"Jonouchi!" called Yugi, realizing that his friend was there. The figure did not respond, however, as if it had lost the ability to speak. "Jonouchi!" Yugi grasped frantically at his friend's disappearing arm. He was surprised when his fingers touched what he had thought wasn't there. "Jonouchi...?"

"If you say so." The voice he heard out of the now-solidified boy in front of him was insanely malicious, not like his real friend's at all. Jonouchi's eyes were bloodshot, and his gaze was as a wild animal's. Yugi snatched his hand away as if he'd been burned. Jonouchi looked as if he were being mind-controlled, which didn't make any sense. Child-Marik couldn't hold the Rod, and real Marik was knocked out on the floor. So who was controlling the Millennium Rod, and therefore Jonouchi?

"Come to any conclusions yet, mortal?" came a malicious voice. Without waiting for an answer, it clubbed Yugi over the head with the Millennium Rod, knocking him unconscious. The figure leaned down and cut the defenseless boy's arm open. "Perhaps now the Pharaoh will wake up," said the white haired teen, licking blood off the Rod's knife.

**Hannah**

(What?! NOES!!! Yugi-chan! Okay, fangirl-ness over -.-)

And wake up the Pharaoh did, with an inhuman roar. He stood, panting slightly, eyes darting to and fro, searching for the source of his corresponding pain. He seemed... wild, feral; for the darkness within him had almost overstepped its boundaries. All coherent thought was fighting an inward battle to keep the shadows at bay, leaving only instinct to control his mortal body.

His most powerful instinct? _Don't let Yugi get hurt._

Seeing his light on the ground, pouring crimson life onto the rough stone floor, his gaze turned softer, yet fraught with worry. He hurried over, knelt down, and gathered the teen to him, one arm around his shoulders, the other holding up the slit arm for inspection. Tenderly licking away some of the blood, he then ripped off part of his cloak and wrapped it tightly around Yugi's arm, staunching the blood flow and causing the boy to groan. Yami crooned gently and threaded his fingers through Yugi's hair, stroking it and calming his hikari. Yugi snuffled a bit and his eyelids flickered. He was about to wake up.

Bakura watched all this, his expression made slightly of amusement, but more of disgust as he finished licking off the knife. "Too sweet..." he muttered, glaring at the blade in distaste. Then, with a lazy flick of his wrist, he lobbed the Millennium Rod, blade first, directly at the two boys.

Yami's arm shot out reflexively and the knife buried itself in his palm. He hissed in pain and anger, curling his arm to his chest. Then he let go of a now-conscious Yugi and lunged for Bakura, wrapping his fingers around the pale neck. Blood from the deep wound in his hand dripped down Bakura's neck as he growled savagely, face inches from the pale teen's. Bakura's eyes widened, pupils retracted as he gasped for breath, fingers clenched around the Pharaoh's forearms.

Then came the cry: "Stop... no!"

**Maria Elena**

Yami turned to see who the speaker was. He let go of Bakura in surprise and anger.

"Don't kill my minion," said a strange boy with artichoke-like hair who looked rather a lot like Marik. "Although you've probably hurt him rather a lot, what with strangling him then dropping him on the floor, he could probably still be of use to me. However, this boy-" Here he gestured to Yugi, whose eyes were bloodshot and vacant, as the eyes of those controlled by the Millennium Rod always were.

"Yugi!" cried the boy with eyes that betrayed his internal struggles, rushing towards the artichoke-haired boy with inhuman strength. Artichoke boy pointed the knife in the Millennium Rod at him, and he was forced to halt without helping his other self.

"Heh heh," said the artichoke boy. "What shall I do to him? He can die by his own hands, what about that? And you can just watch." Yami was sickened, but felt he could do nothing. At this point, the person who had cried out in the first place made a move.

"Marik!" he cried. The artichoke boy's features melted as rage filled him. He stood to face the other self of his that had called him.

"You," he said at long last. "How can you have survived? You are just the boy from before that time. You are _nothing! _Marik hates everything! You are only children compared to me, and it is I who will triumph! I am the darkness! The light is nothing against me!" At this point Mari-el-san figured out the resemblance.

"You're _Marik?" _she cried. "So when Jonouchi released the other Marik, you were released as well, only not as smoke!"

"Yes. I am Marik. I will use the power of darkness to crush you all!" He turned towards Yami. "You will lose your battle," he said.

"No, I won't," said Yami. He knelt and picked up Yugi. "The battle was won a long time ago. Dark may prosper for a time, but will be beaten down. Then it will rise again. It must, or the world will not make sense. But neither will it make sense without light. You may infect Yugi with you powers, but light will win in the end. No matter what you do, light will not make sense. So it has been since Pandora opened the box. Creatures of darkness know nothing of the light, and therefore have only darkness to keep them going, nothing to see them through, to make them see that if you survive once, then you can keep surviving, no matter what the odds are. That is why you will lose, Marik. Even your so-called 'minion' has a light side. But yours only fuels your hate. You are the darkness, and you will be beaten down."

**Hannah**

"Keh keh keh... kha... Kha ha ha! **KHA HA HA HA HA!**" The boy with the artichoke hair's evil laughter filled the room as he tipped his head back and gave full cry to his sadistic amusement. Wiping a laughter tear from his eye, he continued, "Thanks for the lecture, _teach. _But I don't believe a word of it. All of you will soon be mine. Or dead. Depends on my mood." His face twisted into a malicious smile. "And I'm in the mood for some _fun._" He twiddled the Rod between his fingers, still glaring at the 'heroes,' scheming up horrific tortures and deaths for each one.

Yami, meanwhile, went stiff; then blazed with a dark light. "Ghh..." he gasped, eyes rolling. Then, "It has been assimilated. The darkness. It's a part of me now..." Then he remembered the urgency of the situation, and turned back to his light. "Yugi... YUGI! Snap out of it, aibou!" His voice went high, a pitiful wail that was awful to hear coming from the mouth of the once strong and commanding King of Games.

Bakura struggled to his feet then. "H-heh heh heh... seems like _you're _pretty useless without your pretty _boyfriend,_ now, aren't you... 'great pharaoh'?" He chuckled some more, then stopped, gasping for breath. He leaned on the wall for support, then, with a look of shock, promptly lost control of his body. His hair settled down, eyes turned back to warm brown, and Ryou gave a rushing sigh of relief. "Thank you, Yugi... or is it the other one? If you hadn't weakened him, I would never have been able to--!" His eyes closed tightly in pain, and he cradled his head in his hands. "Agh...!" he went down on one knee, then immediately straightened up again as Bakura shunted him roughly out of control. "Fool!" he spat, eyes blazing, "To think you could keep _me _out of commission...!"

Meanwhile Yami continued to stare at Yugi pleadingly. "Please... I don't... I can't...!"

_Time for some fun... _Marik thought, and gave a subtle twitch of the Rod. Yugi's eyes snapped to life. "Pharaoh... what's going on? You were.. Bakura... Marik! NO!" _OBEY ME, mind-slave! _A crazed gleam settled into Yugi's eyes, and an odd half-smile played on his features. "Come, Pharaoh... let's..." he giggled, slightly hysterically, and surged forward, claiming his yami's lips.

Yami's eyes widened bewilderedly, and he pulled away, breaking contact with his partner. He touched his own lips lightly, and stared at Yugi. "No... you're not... no, Marik... don't make me do this! _Don't make me do this!!_ ...I can't..."

_**Maria Elena**_

"I can't see you like this!" Yami said finally, eyes downcast and all hope lost. His partner, the soul that he had survived so many battles through, the innocent, young boy that had brought puzzles to school and protected even those who bullied him, _that _boy, his partner, was being controlled by Marik and his evil instruments of torture. "It's not you," he whispered. "Yugi-chan, that's not you. I won't let it be you!" With every word Yami's voice grew stronger and more confident, and he was finally able to stand. "Marik, you lost," he said. "You may have won my partner, but you can't beat me. You're _nobody_. All you are is a shadow, not even real. Just a bunch of thoughts. You're not even the real Marik!" With every word, Yami moved toward Artichoke Marik, until he was facing him, as confident as the pharaoh he was. "Marik, some scars in your back don't give you right to take over the world!" In his ranting, however, he had forgotten one thing.

"Heh-heh" said Marik. He flipped the Millennium Rod around, exposing the knife, and slashed Yami across the chest.

"Yugi..." groaned Yami. "I have to-" His eyes rolled back into his head.

"Yami!" Yugi had been shaken out of Marik's mind control by Yami's pain. Seeing the wound on Yami's chest and the blood on Marik's knife, he immediately understood what had happened. "What did you do to him?" he cried. "Yami!"

"Now, don't freak out, little boy," said Marik. "Your 'boyfriend' will be fine in a minute."  
"What did you do?"

"Oh, nothing. It was very touching, though."  
"You kissed him." said Mari-el-san matter-of-factly, stepping out from the shadows where she and Hannah had been watching from. "Marik, you still haven't won. You cannot win, as Yami said. We won't forgive you for what you did."

"None of us will." said Hannah, also stepping out of the shadows. "There's nothing you can do."

**Hannah**

"Don't make me laugh!" Marik said, laughing anyway and putting on a mocking voice, "You and your cute little 'light will always prevail' nonsense! You make me sick! It's all... the _Pharaoh's fault... _that these scars are in my back... _he _is the true evil one! Turn yourselves against him! My family... tortured... in the darkness... for _millennia! Thousands of years! His fault... the Pharaoh..." _Marik was working himself up into a frenzy, growling and twitching all over, the third eye on his forehead glowing even brighter. The Millennium Rod flashed, and all were blasted with a concentrated ball of dark energy. Their hair was blown back, but nothing else happened as Marik continued to spaz.

Yami stood. He clutched his chest and winced as more blood flowed, but he stood solidly and confidently. Yugi hurried over to him. "Yami...! You're hurt..." Yugi was unsure what to do, so he continued falteringly, "...I'm sorry... for what I did earlier..."

"Don't. You weren't yourself then. We'll continue that later. And we'll do it _properly_ next time..." Yami said with a roguish wink. Yugi wondered if there _were _a 'proper' way for a guy to kiss another guy, then decided he didn't really care and started tending to Yami's wound.

Hannah and Maria Elena, meanwhile, were preparing for their charge, when Hannah wavered slightly. "Unh... I-I'm... tired..." she sighed, and promptly collapsed.

"Keh keh," chuckled a snapped-out-of-it Marik. "Fool. She's exhausted herself using her power without fully understanding it." He motioned with the Rod, and Hannah was picked up by an invisible force and carried over to where he was standing. As she floated by Mari el-san, she gave a tiny, almost-imperceptible wink...

**Maria Elena**

"The Pharaoh is not to blame! _You_ are to blame, as all of us know! _You _are the one who killed Marik's father! _You_ are the one responsible for this battle! And besides, your hair looks funny," Mari-el-san said, with much more confidence than she felt. Hoping that her hunch was correct, and that if she attacked Marik, Hannah would come to her aid, she stepped forward. A light seemed to be streaming from everywhere inside of her, and the light grew until she unleashed it at Marik. The light dispelled his shadows, momentarily at least.

Marik was not beaten, however. "How many times do I have to tell you, the Pharaoh made my family suffer in darkness for thousands of years! It's the Pharaoh's fault that this identity even exists! It doesn't matter though, I can kill you no matter who is to blame. Each and every one of you will suffer. I can begin with your friend here. That way I can torture both of you at the same time."

--

Ha ha. Hahaha. It's fun to read this over after so many months. And laugh at how badly/humorously we handled some of these situations. D


	3. Yay, more violence

Hooray. More randomness from the halls of Hannah&Mari el-san, Inc. This one was fun, our writing skills are really picking up. Format's just a little bit different this time; each '--' marks a scene change.

Disclaimer: We don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!. If we did, I wouldn't have to write this annoying disclaimer every time I upload something.

--

**Hannah**

Marik moved closer to the prone form of Hannah, drawing the knife and grinning twistedly. Hannah sprang into action. She jumped up and put the spiky blonde-haired teen into a headlock, with little difficulty. _Hooray for the element of surprise, _she thought bitterly, _now how long can I hold him? And what do we do now?? _

Marik let out a yell as soon as Hannah's arms encircled his neck, arms (with Rod-knife still clutched in hand) flailing wildly to keep his balance. It didn't work. He fell, with a very embarrassed Hannah landing on top of him, cracking his head sharply on the ground. He was down, but not out. Swarming to his feet, cloak billowing around him, Hannah struggling to keep hold of him, an enraged Marik lifted fingers to his temple. They came away bloody. He yelled in pain and rage, then simply... faded away.

Hannah dropped to the floor, bewildered, as--not for the first time--a sinister laugh echoed around the cold stone room. Bakura stood, waving the Millennium Ring tauntingly. "Remember me? I'm here, too," he whimpered, putting on big, shojo Ryou-eyes. "Marik was my _illusion_. To buy me some time," he snickered as his eyes narrowed again.

"Time," said the pharaoh, unexpectedly. "A very mysterious entity, indeed. For I am old, as old as the sands of Egypt, yet here I am with a teenager's body and a teenaged mind. Time can change things or solidify them, strengthen them or weaken them, pull them together or push them apart. Time heals all wounds, but in the process often creates more. It binds us more tightly than anything else in this universe or the next, yet is the easiest thing to waste, to break. Time is a lot like love," he continued, crimson eyes deepening with wisdom and shining with passion. "Both confusing, both wonderful, both mortally wounding if lost. To have is bliss, wondrous beyond imagination. When it's gone, there is nothing, nothing worth thought, worth sense, worth life. No time, no time... slipping away, unnoticed, unseen. Only our memories confirm what has gone before, but how can we rely on them? I am living proof of that..."

_What was the point of __that_ thought Yugi, _it was pretty, but... rambling on about time and love aren't going to change much about our situation._

_I __heard__ that, aibou. Trust in me, _the Pharaoh's voice was cool and confident in Yugi's mind, _I've got a plan._

**Maria Elena**

Mari-el-san had managed to blur into the shadows once more, and was quietly sneaking around the edges of the room towards Bakura, since he was distracted by Hannah's crouching form. Having not heard the conversation between Yugi and Yami, she had decided to make up her own plan to save her friend. In other words, she was going to make it up as she went. "Don't worry, Hannah," she muttered to herself as she crept through the shadows.

Meanwhile, Bakura gave an evil laugh. "You see? You have spent yourselves fighting an illusion that couldn't even be hurt without disappearing! It is futile to keep fighting. You will lose, for I can see the darkness in all of you. Everyone turns to the darkness once in a while, to ask 'Why'? Well, good cannot always triumph, no matter what you all say! You have all turned to the darkness at one time or another, or what you see as the darkness, for truly that all depends on your point of view. No matter, however. All I want is to avenge the wrongs that have been done to me. That is all that anyone ever wants!"

"You're wrong." The voice came from Mari-el-san, still in the shadows. She stepped out. "I know that's not true. All I want is to undo the wrongs that _I _have done. I know people who have seen darkness, and gone back to the light. Darkness is naught to be afraid of, as long as you know where the light is."

"Really," said Bakura, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Well, aren't you special. Since you're so unafraid of darkness, you can be the first to be sacrificed to it."

"Wa-" cried Yami, too late to help. "No! This isn't the way it was supposed to be!" Yugi put a hand on his shoulder. Bakura shot a blast of shadows at the defenseless girl. Mari-el-san shielded herself with her arms at the last minute, but she was still blown backwards by the attack. Hannah hurried over to her friend's now-still body and touched her cold hand. "Wake up," she whispered, and the cried, "Wake up!" Tears began streaming down her face. "That's not the way it was supposed to be!" she sobbed.

--

Her fingers hurt. So did her head. And just about everything else. But she was alive. Mari-el-san wondered how that was possible. She was standing on the staircase, the last place she'd been in the real world. Above her was the door to the outside world. Below, no one knew. Mari-el-san put a hand on the wall to steady herself, then snatched it back as if it had been burned. Tentatively, she put it back on the wall. Again, her hand turned the color of the wall. Obviously, she couldn't return like this. Mari-el-san glanced down below and began to descend into the darkness.

**Hannah**

Back down in torture-land, Hannah was bewildered and bereaved. Why had Maria Elena's body disappeared the moment she'd touched it? She knew the situation had been dangerous, and so wasn't surprised her friend had been taken, but it stung all the same. "Baka Ereina-chan…you don't preach to your enemy unless you're about to win!" she murmured. "Or you have considerable experience in this kind of thing." She turned her eyes to her heroes, her bishounen, the couple with the tri-coloured hair. They glared at Bakura, eyes of ruby and amethyst glowing with their inner power.

"Aibou..." Yami muttered, "leave this to me." And he dashed forward, leaving Yugi standing alone.

"No! Pharaoh, come back! We're strongest together!" But the headstrong Pharaoh paid him no heed, stretching forward an arm with darkness gathering at his fingertips.

Bakura chuckled darkly, sinisterly. The Millennium Ring flashed, just once, and Yami was thrown completely across the room, rolling heavily along the floor until he skidded to a halt. He tried to rise, but only managed to lift his head and shoulders, leaning heavily on his elbows. He squinted, trying to sort out the multiple cackling Bakuras dancing across his addled vision. Yugi stood in shock for a moment, then dashed to his pharaoh's side. Or at least, tried to. Before he had gone three steps, the Millennium Ring flashed three times, and he dropped to the floor, facedown.

Dead.

The King of Games shook his head, clearing his vision and discarding the last remnants of Bakura's shadow magic. Then he saw his aibou. The other half of his soul, his necessary light, the yin to his yang. Dead. He could tell, not with his eyes but with his heart, his very soul crying out for its partner. Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes, unbidden and unstoppable.

_"YUGI!"_

Came his anguished cry, and, tears flying, sparkling as gems as they left his cheeks, he rushed to his partner's side while Bakura looked on. He gently but swiftly edged his hands underneath Yugi's chest and flipped him over. He pressed his cheek to his aibou's throat to check his pulse. "Barely flickering," he whispered, "the last throes. He's not breathing." He looked up at Hannah, eyes wild and face twisted with grief. "What do I do?!"

Hannah was stunned for a moment; was her hero _really _asking _her _for advice?! Then she snapped out of it, tilting her head upward as she tried to recall her schooling. "...Uh... the cells don't die for a long time after the body is dead... if we can restart his heart..." Then her eyes snapped forward, brown locking with crimson. "Yami! Do you know CPR?"

Yami, who had always been in the background during Yugi's health classes, nodded decisively. He turned back to his partner and began to administer the kiss of life _(Sorry, couldn't resist calling it that P), _hoping and acting fervently toward his hikari's recovery.

Bakura glared at the two with a look of disgust upon his pale visage, and sent a pulse of darkness toward them. Hannah leapt in front of them, the bolt glancing harmlessly off of her as her inner light did its job once again. She smirked and said, somewhat foolishly, "Ooh, what now, Baku-chan?" as worry about the teens behind her gnawed at the back of her mind. Yugi would recover, his darkness would bring him back from the brink... wouldn't he?

_**Maria Elena**_

Mari-el-san glared at her translucent hand, disliking being see-through. She soon forgot these woes, however, as she saw a shimmering form down a ways farther. As she walked up(or rather down) to the form, it was evident that it was on the borderline of staying in the regular world or becoming a spirit. The rather short teenage boy in question struggled for another moment and then fizzled out. Mari-el-san sighed and walked faster, sensing that the end of the stairs was near.

--

Yugi's corporeal body vanished under Yami's touch. "Aibou!" Yami cried, and then realized that he could feel his partner in his soul. Yami withdrew into his soul to see if he could find his partner.

Hannah, seeing Yami's kneeling, unresponsive form on the floor and no Yugi, guessed what had happened. Turning back to face Bakura, who had seen the entire scene, and after her rather foolish comment, had murder in his eyes, she wasn't sure what to do. _Now what? _she thought. _I know I can defend against him, but look what happened to Yami when he tried to attack. I'm not sure what to do…_

--

Mari-el-san reached the bottom of the stairs. Before her were three passageways stretching off in three different directions. _The answer must have something to do with letting your heart guide you, _she thought. _Well, maybe I'll try it. _Closing her eyes, she discarded one of the paths, knowing that she hadn't been down it. She was split between the two others, however. The signal from one was very faint, as if she didn't know what lay along it. _Oh well,_ she thought, and decided to try the other path, the one that lay straight ahead. _It does look important..._

Bakura and Hannah were at a bit of a stalemate. The Millennium Ring would flash, but a pulse of Hannah's light would dispel the shadows immediately. Bakura was circling around the room, attempting to catch Hannah off balance, who was hard put to keep protecting Yami's body. She managed at first, but soon she began to tire of all Bakura's rapid attacks. She was also afraid to mount her own attack, which could decide which way the battle went. As her movements became more sluggish, her light began to fade until there was very little still protecting her from Bakura. Finally, she stumbled and Bakura, seeing an opportunity, sent two pulsating beads of darkness towards her. This was too much for her faltering spirit to take, and she was thrown across the room, cracking her head sharply on the wall. "That's two of you gone, then," said Bakura. He looked down at the Millennium Ring, relishing in its power.

"Well, not exactly," came a voice from the doorway.

Mari-el-san glided towards Bakura, noting the surprise on his face, and on Hannah's as she began to stir. "You came back," the white-haired teen whispered savagely, enraged that his spell hadn't worked properly. "You came back!" He sent darkness spiraling towards Mari-el-san. She dodged, and the darkness hit the door, splintering it into several pieces. Her own magic was gathering to attack Bakura, as was apparent from the flames that licked over her ghostly figure. The magical fire gathered into her palm, emerging as a blast of ghostly molten silver that slammed into Bakura, knocking him straight back, where he hit the wall.

Hannah shook her head to clear it, full of wonder at what she had just seen. She stuttered for a moment, then finally said, "You're magic's silver." Mari-el-san turned, realizing that her friend was still lying against the wall. The spectral girl extended a ghostly hand to help her friend up.

"I'm the Dark Magician." she said. "I don't envy light, nor do I covet it, but I am a part of it. The world is a shade of gray, or silver, as I see it. Neither dark nor light, as in all the stories. I think of myself as neither, therefore I am neither. But-" here she trailed off, surveying the room, "-I am loyal to light. Nothing comes from darkness. Nothing ever did, and nothing ever will. I take its name only for independence."

**Hannah**

"..." Hannah looked at her friend skeptically, then ignored the still-outstretched hand and got to her feet by herself. "Mari el-san, or whoever you are, I don't know who you're trying to kid (yourself, maybe?), but the Dark Magician is a _male_ monster. Did you, perhaps, mean Dark Magician _Girl?"_

The spectre looked confused for a moment, then realized what she meant. "...Ah, I see. I _am _the Dark Magician, but the only way I could come to this world to help my king was by way of this girl's soul. I intercepted it as it tried to take its leave of this world and inhabited it, consuming its earthly body for power. I found one other soulless body and used it as well," the soul-in-a-soul explained. Seeing Hannah's look of utter disgust, the Dark Magician hastily spoke again. "Fear not," he admonished, "once I leave, all bodies will be returned and souls reinstated."

"Hm," Hannah replied thoughtfully, "Well… I'm still not entirely sure how you got here, but I'm sure glad you are. Welcome aboard, matey." She stuck out a hand, and the spectre readily took it, smiling and shaking it warmly. Hannah then turned her gaze to the once-again-incapacitated Bakura, still slumped against the wall. She smirked. "He's kinda cute… when he's not trying to blast your soul out," she said aloud; and knelt down beside him, gently stroking his albino hair.

The Dark Magician/Mari el-san looked up sharply. "Enjoy your reprieve while you can," he intoned, "a new enemy approaches."

--

Yami was silent. His body knelt on one knee, arms loosely crossed, hands clasping his own shoulders and forehead creased slightly in concentration. His soul was deep inside, in a sort of time-out-of-time within the Millennium Puzzle.

During Yugi's soul transfer from body to Puzzle, some outside force had interfered and unknowingly joggled up the works, throwing Yugi into exactly the wrong place. He was in the Labyrinth. Somewhere. Spirit-Yami closed his eyes and reached out with his heart, trying to locate his light in the puzzle of hallways, doors, and uncertainty. All around him was darkness, nothing but stone; walls, doors, and ambushes. A feeling of panic rushed into him. _What if Yugi fell into a trap? What will become of him?! _Then... _there. _A pinpoint of light, flickering wetly for unknown reasons, called to him. His feet began to move, directing him, eyes still closed, toward the source of this light. Sure enough, before long, he heard a soft sound... crying? His eyes snapped open and he ran around a final corner.

Yugi sat huddled in a shadowed corner, head resting on his folded arms, sobbing weakly. Yami's face softened as he walked softly toward the hopeless teen.

A tearstained face with shimmering bright purple eyes looked up at the sound of footsteps. Yami threw his arms around Yugi's shoulders, enfolding him in his warm embrace. The smaller teen hiccupped gently and returned the gesture desperately, new tears springing to his eyes.

"I thought... I'd never get out!" he whispered brokenly, "But... you found me..."

"Of course, aibou... I could never leave you." He tightened his hold on the boy and pressed his lips to the other's neck, sending reassurance through their mental link.

After some time of simply sitting like this, Yugi, sufficiently recovered from his near-death experience, suggested they get up now. Yami, a small blush creeping over his features, immediately complied. They held hands as they found their way, slowly but surely, back toward the door that led to the hallway between their soul rooms.

Once there, Yami was hesitant to leave.

"Go. I'll be fine," Yugi assured him.

"...All right. But I'll need everything we've got to help out there. I sense a strong evil approaching. Are you ready? Can you help me?"

"Always, my pharaoh." Yugi smiled, and the two moved closer. Yami finally closed the distance between their lips, and the two shared a kiss.

The Pharaoh, empowered, smiled as the two broke apart. Then his image dissolved as his soul took up residence in their shared body once more; back into time, back into danger.

--

Yami stood. Eyes burning with a new resolve, he asked, "What's the situation?" His eyes snapped to Hannah, who'd just stood up from her position beside Bakura. Then he saw the spectral girl, or rather, what lie inside her, and stopped dead, eyes wide in shock. "Mahado... Dark Magician!"

"Yes, it is I, my Pharaoh," intoned the spirit, kneeling an inch above the ground before his master. "I have traveled far; for I sensed your need of my power. And see -" he gestured toward the prone form of Bakura "- one evil has been vanquished. But I am sure you have sensed it as well, my lord; another, greater power approaches."

Yami was thoughtful for a moment, focusing on something outside the range of normal sight. "This aura..." he murmured, "Yugi and I agree. It's familiar, but I can't quite place it. It's not dark, not shadow power... but we sense another current of power beneath it, encompassing it fully, that is darker than even Bakura's." His forehead creased for a moment; he was obviously conversing with his light half. Then shock registered on his face, and he cried, "Oh! Dragons... _it's Kaiba!" _

_**Maria Elena**_

Mari-el-san gasped, realizing the terror behind Mahado's words. _All bodies will be returned and all souls be reinstated..._She stood up and paced around the room of her soul that she was trapped in. _Trapped..._she muttered.She banged on the door to the room, not even noticing what her soul was like in her desire to live, to ask Mahado what he had really meant. _Reinstated..._she thought worriedly. _To restore to a previous state or condition. Does that mean..._

"You're rather perceptive," said the Dark Magician, who had heard her call. He stepped into the room, his quiet footsteps echoing. Mari-el-san sank down against a wall. "I-I - "

"Time will tell," said Mahado. "There's no way out of this mess unless you find one. Besides, how do you know what'll happen?" Mari-el-san looked up at the rather wise spirit, the first glimmerings of tears at her own fate sparkling in her eyes. "Who knows all of their fate?" the Magician intoned. "Perhaps the gods know something that you do not. Think on the future, and perhaps you will realize more. Or perhaps you will not. Either way, I must go." Mahado left with a sweep of his cloak, leaving a rather depressed Mari-el-san in his wake.

--

The Dark Magician straightened up from his crouching position. The two others in the room looked at him, bewildered. He ignored their unspoken questions and simply said, "Kaiba." As if to answer him, a bolt of blue light slammed through the doorway, straight towards Yami, who was in front of him at the time. Mahado, sensing his Pharaoh was in danger, dove towards him with all the speed that he could muster. The blue fire rammed through the spirit(s) and _kept going_ until it hit Yami, where it stopped its deadly dance.

"My lord...I am sorry...It was for naught. Pharaoh, forgive me. I could not save you." Mahado's voice faded as his spirit did as well. Mari-el-san saw her body come back into existence, and as it did, felt the faint beating of its heart. She knew that she had didn't have enough time left to return to the world, could feel the pain and torture that lay down both paths she was to choose from. "A crossroads," she murmured. "One doesn't always know all of one's fate..." Her eyes once more bright with unshed tears, she said, "Hannah. It was no coincidence that the Dark Magician chose my soul. He chose it because my soul isn't all light, or even mostly light, as yours is." She took the older girl's hand. "Time only can tell what will happen. All I know is that I will return once I have found the answers to my questions. Why I am dark? Why am I silver and not light? Why? I will come to terms with these questions and then come back. You'll see me again." As she spoke these last words, Mari-el-san felt her body take its last breath. "I go..." she whispered, almost inaudibly. "Hannah, you can do it alone...beat Kaiba." Hannah blinked, and the next second her friend was gone for the second time.

Yugi, just waking up, felt the absence of his partner's soul before he even opened his eyes to the terrible truth. "Yami?" he whispered. "Where are you?" He then remembered the blue light and all the rest that had happened. "He's gone…" the boy whispered to Hannah. "My partner's gone!" Hannah realized how lucky Yugi was to have survived, as she saw Yami's body lying just next to him. The Dark Magician had indeed returned Yugi's body as well, but Yugi had had longer to live than Mari-el-san had. She helped Yugi rise to his feet, and then the next second the door crashed down.

--

_Mari-el-san was in the stairwell again. She saw a dark wall ahead of her. NO! she cried soundlessly. Hannah's on the other side of that wall! I have to get through. She beat at it until her hands were bloody, and then the scene changed. She was walking through a forest, but then she turned the corner and there was the same black wall. She beat at it again, and the scene changed once more. This time everywhere was dark. She tried walking but could get nowhere. Trapped, she thought. What do I do? _

"Stop fighting," came a voice, when she had expected no answer. Yami was standing behind her. "Stop fighting it," he said. "You have to be looking for answers, not just panicking. Come." He took her hand so neither would lose the way, and began to walk into the darkness.

_**Hannah**_

Kaiba entered. His coattails swept out dramatically behind him as usual. His piercing blue eyes swept their trademark death-glare around the room. He had far too many belts on, as was the norm. But one thing wasn't just like normal, as he soon saw. His cold blue eyes narrowed, sensing something not-quite-right about this situation...then he realized what it was. _This _Yugi was far too short, and not nearly commanding enough. This was not the one he was supposed to fight. But what the hell, warming up was never a bad idea...

"It's time to duel," he said, a sadistic grin cranking its way onto his face. _This was what the other Yugi always said; why not give it a shot?_

Hannah's eyes widened in shock and bewilderment. "B-but," she stammered, "I don't have any cards! I don't even know how to play!"

Yugi's eyes darkened in sadness. "I haven't got my deck either," he said dejectedly, "and the other me's gone missing."

Kaiba was, by now, thoroughly annoyed. First, he had no rival. Secondly, these buffoons didn't have the most important weapon in the world: playing cards. "_Now _what, oh supreme ruler of darkness?" he asked sarcastically, turning to the seemingly empty air next to him.

Hannah and Yugi stared. "It's official," Hannah said as the CEO started arguing with nobody. "Kaiba's lost it."

Yugi nodded. "The stress of owning the most successful business in the world must finally have gotten to him. Hey Kaiba, are you okay?" He started moving toward the billionaire, holding his hands out disarmingly.

Kaiba stopped, gulped, and shuddered. His eyes turned dead black, he turned toward the two teens, and a sepulchral voice shook the room. "Foolish mortals," he intoned, as per the godly villain script. Powdered mortar fell from the stone ceiling. Hannah and Yugi promptly stopped worrying about Kaiba's welfare and started worrying about their own.

A Blue-Eyes White Dragon roar sounded from outside the room. Hannah looked through the door past a scowling Kaiba and saw a single bright blue eye staring through it, unable to get in. She watched in childlike fascination as the eye was removed, then the owner of said eye thrust its snout into the doorway, and she found herself mere feet away from the beast's slavering jaws and razor-sharp teeth. It roared again, its high-pitched keening growl shattering the air and dislodging a few blocks from the ceiling.

"Now, now," Kaiba petted the dragon on its quivering snout, "you'll have your feast soon enough, but we can't have you blazing them to cinders just yet." The new voice seemed wrong saying those words. Being so tender toward the beast. "I need to _get _something from them."

--

Mari el-san's quest for enlightenment was nowhere near this familiar. But it was just as bizarre, and just as dangerous.

She soon found this belief compounded as Yami once again pulled her out of the way of a rabid-looking beast and banished it with a blast of shadow magic.

"You need to be more cautious!" he hissed. "Next time we might not be so lucky, and I might not notice in time."

"Sorry," Maria Elena whined, "but I'm _trying _to think here! Isn't that what we're here for? To figure stuff out?"

"No. To _find _stuff out. So pay attention!" Yami's eyes blazed, annoyed that the girl had almost justified her apathy.

"Yessir." Yami was scary when he was mad. No point in being the one to get him that way. So Maria Elena looked. They were in a pitch-dark passageway, following a strip of glowing symbols that looked vaguely Egyptian. The hieroglyphs seemed to be floating in midair, so she assumed they were written on the wall. The air in the passage was cold and stale, it felt dead and she was sure they were in some sort of tomb. Yami was sure to have noticed this, too, and that was certainly why he was being so nervous and jumpy. After all, he'd already been dead once and being in the sort of place where it had happened couldn't be very good for his psyche.

Suddenly, out of the darkness ahead, a slit of light appeared, stretching from the floor to what must have been the ceiling above them. It widened, to about the width of a...a doorway. Yami's eyes brightened. "This is it," he said excitedly. "We must go through here."

Maria Elena looked. The doorway was filled with an almost blinding light, impossible to see through. "You want us to go through _there_? Who knows where it goes!"

"That's the point!" The Pharaoh's eyes had an almost manic glint to them, but his voice was reassuring, familiar. "An open door's an invitation. You've got to jump when the door's been opened!"

And with that, he ran forward a few paces and threw himself into the light. Maria Elena stopped. Stared. Smiled.

Ran.

And was _there_, falling endlessly through rings of time and sound, of light and darkness, white and black and over and under. Through the distortion of space/time, she could make out the silhouette of a teen with spiky, star-shaped hair flying spread-eagled below, or ahead, or perhaps above her. It was hard to tell in this environment. She made her body as aerodynamic as possible, while Yami used what remained of his cloak as drag, slowing himself down while she caught up. Soon they were flying, or falling, or drifting side-by-side. It didn't really matter. It was a wonderful, exhilarating experience. And not just because she had an uber-sexy teenaged boy beside her.

"Where are we going?" Maria Elena had to scream to be heard over the roar of noise, or whisper so she didn't disturb the silence.

"Wherever it takes us!" Yami shouted joyously. He didn't know how he had managed to be so precise in the way he'd said that. Perhaps it was the emotion involved. Perhaps it was his overwhelming confidence. Or maybe he just had enough experience in occult things that he wasn't affected.

Whatever the reason, it didn't change the fact that they then landed, rather hard, in the gardens in front of Kaiba's mansion.


	4. Mmm, blood

Chapter 4! I guess I had some sort of motivation today, eh...? Anway, some song lyrics are used in here - 'Hoist the Colors' from PoTC 3, Evanescence's 'Going Under' and 'Sweet Sacrifice', and also from 'Eyes Like Yours' by Shakira.

Annoying Disclaimer: We don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!. If we did, the subbed Japanese version would be on TV alllll the time.

--

**Maria Elena**

Mari-el-san, after dusting herself off, finally took in the sight. Or rather, didn't, since it was rather too big to look up at and see all of it, especially when the sun was in your eyes. Which it was. But it was big. Very big. Infinitely big, in fact, in the same way that something large seems infinite, but is really just very big, since infinity itself is simply flat and dull. Or so said _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. _In other words, Kaiba's mansion was very, very, big.

While this strange thought process was going through her mind, Yami staggered to his feet beside her. He hardly spared a second glance for the mansion, let alone a long, confusing, thought process. "Shall we go, then?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer, he strode towards the mansion. Mari-el-san took one last look around and then hurried after him.

Panting, she caught up with Yami at the door. "What's the big rush?" she asked. Yami's strange eyes, streaked red and black, gave her a look that clearly said, "I am on important business, so important that you could never understand how exceedingly important it is, and you should stop troubling me before I get distracted from my exceedingly important business and am forced to blame everything on you." Not that this was a very clear message in the first place, but Mari-el-san got the drift. "Playing cards, if you must know," he said impatiently. "Kaiba's stolen them, so I have to find them if I want to duel him and save everyone." He paused, either to let this sink in or just to accent his sudden macho-ness. "Come _on_ already. We have to get back and save Yugi." Mari-el-san was insulted that he had completely forgotten Hannah, and was about to say something of the sort, but Yami pushed past her into the mansion. As she really had no other choice, she followed.

Yami was nowhere to be seen. It was a big mansion, but Mari-el-san was still wondering why people always seemed to disappear once they went in the door. It was like something sucked them up and transported them to the other side of the house. Er, mansion. However, that couldn't be it, since she was still standing here with yet another confusing thought process going through her head. Maybe infinitely-ish big mansions did that to you. Unless you happened to be a yaoi-obsessed bishie, of course. In which case it did absolutely nothing, apparently. Mari-el-san tiptoed farther into the hall, worried that Mokuba might hear her. Which was the first time she realized that she actually had footsteps, and was no longer floating a few inches above the ground. She gave up the tiptoeing, figuring that the mansion couldn't be real anyway, and started to run. It was a good hallway for running, which must have stretched the entire depth of the mansion. When you ran especially quickly, it almost felt as if you were flying. Mari-el-san opened her eyes and saw that her feet had left the ground. She decided to take this as proof that this world wasn't completely real, and messed around with steering. She found that you could steer yourself around by paddling, as if swimming. There were a couple of casualties where she knocked into the ceiling or what not, making a much-too-loud noise and freezing in midair, almost falling all the way to the ground. Luckily, she caught herself and was soon swooping around the mansion. Finally, she landed on an upstairs balcony. "Yami?" she whispered, figuring it wouldn't do any harm. Unsurprisingly, there was no answer. She quietly peeked into a room, not expecting much. It was mirrored all around, except for the ceiling and floor. Suddenly, the glass turned smoky. Curious, Mari-el-san stepped into the room, closing the door behind her.

--

Meanwhile, back in wherever Hannah and Yugi were, they were in mildly deep trouble. If you could call it that, that is. More precisely, a Blue-Eyes White Dragon was attempting to break the door down, and Kaiba was staring at them with blue eyes that said, again rather clearly, "I am going to let my dragon loose on you after I've had my fun, because I will win my card game with the other Yugi whenever he gets here, because I'm cool like that. And because I am the future. BWA HA HA. You can do nothing to stop your fate." Which was significantly easier to understand than Yami's eyes. Which probably meant that Kaiba was a shallow character. But a very dangerous one, for sure. Hannah and Yugi decided that it was a stalemate, but could still think of nothing to do besides stand frozen like deer in headlights.

--

Mari-el-san's stomach twisted as she saw her friend's face in the glass. Twisted, however, bound somewhere between fear and rage. "I'm a stupid, freaking, _jerk_!!" Mari-el-san stared at the half-buried memory and reached for the door handle. Opened the door. Ran. Ran, almost tripping over her own feet. Ran, the way she only ran to run away. Ran, not even noticing where she was going. And finally stopped, completely lost. "I'm not...strong enough." she murmured to herself. "I'm not even as strong as some character I wrote. Some stupid character who could face her own problems. And I CAN'T!" Then she was running again, on some strange adrenaline that she didn't know she'd had. Running so fast that she didn't see the railing of the balcony. At this speed she just ran up onto it and over, falling through thin air. By some miracle she managed to land on two feet, like a cat, and managed not to break her neck. By an even greater miracle, Yami was standing next to her, with a duel disk clearly on his arm. He looked tired, and a bit older, somehow, as she guessed she might. "Let's go," Mari-el-san said quietly. For the moment, that was all that needed to be said.

(A/N: Yes, that was a personal problem my friend and I had. No, I'm not going to tell you about it.)

**Hannah**

"Hm?" He looked over at her, eyes widening in puzzlement. They still weren't right, their normal exotic crimson tarnished by the gently swirling black streaks.  
She plucked up her courage and asked him. "Yami, what's up with your eyes?"  
"Hm?" He seemed vaguely amused as well as puzzled now, a small smile playing across his lips. "My eyes have always been red; it's odd, I know, but..."  
"N-no, look..." She placed both hands firmly on his head and swiveled it so that he was looking into one of the mirrors lining the hallway. "See? They've got black in them."  
"Oh." Yami's eyes narrowed as he said worriedly, "It's an indicator. Yugi is in great danger from a dark power." Seeing Maria Elena's hurt glare, he added, "I don't know about Hannah; but it seems when I'm not in contact with my partner I can still tell what's happening by my eyes. Don't look at me like that, it's never happened before!"

Maria Elena sighed. "Then how do you know what it means? ...never mind. Come on, Duel King. Do you know the way out of this place?"

The Pharaoh only nodded. He grasped the Millennium Puzzle with both hands, then bowed his head. His bangs fell across his eyes, obscuring them from view. He started mumbling, and a dark mist grew from his hands to envelop them both. It shimmered and sparkled as though greeting them, then they were gone. Maria Elena felt an inexplicable rushing sensation, as though traveling through time and space and another dimension besides; then she felt a hand on her shoulder.  
"M-Maria Elena!" The mist evaporated, and Hannah's smiling but worried face appeared very close to Mari el-san's own. "You came back! You're back..."  
Her eyes slitted as tears threatened to spill out of them, and she attempted to mask her pain with her familiar lament. "You're still too tall," she mumbled weakly, treating her friend to a watery smile as she smacked her shoulder.

Yami and Yugi, meanwhile, were locked in a warm embrace. Not a word had been said, but Yugi's eyes were streaming with tears as he clutched his partner for dear life.

Kaiba looked amused. "How cute," he chuckled, then added, "Come, other Yugi, our time is nigh."

_Yo ho, all together, hoist the colors high..._  
_heave ho, thieves and beggars, never shall we die._

Yami stood apart from Yugi, with one last tender caress. His eyes burned as they turned upon his age-old rival. His arms hung taut at his sides, his feet spread wide from each other, and his shoulders were held high, proudly.  
He spoke; a single, resonating, final word. "No."  
Kaiba stood in shock as Yami continued, pacing forward ever-so-slowly, ever regally, as befit a king. "No, Kaiba, I will not fight you. You are  
_not _Kaiba; you are not even _human_. I see the darkness in your eyes, that darkness which holds great power; that power for which I am named. The darkness, the _yami, _has taken you over. Kaiba. _Break free." _With that last order, he thrust out a hand with darkness burning at its fingertips.  
The Kaiba-yet-not-Kaiba smirked lazily, an ugly gesture of pleasure at the pain he was about to cause. He gestured slowly with one hand, and Yugi squeaked in shock then flew across the room into his waiting arms. The monster locked his long, spidery fingers into the small teen's hair, forcing his head back. A lethally pointed dagger appeared in the other hand, and he pressed the edge cruelly into Yugi's exposed neck. The merest drop of blood traced its bright path down his white throat, and Yami gasped sharply.  
Yugi wobbled slightly, on tiptoe to keep up with Kaiba's reach, and gave a strangled choking sound as the blade cut deeper.

"What do you say now, Pharaoh?" The monster's voice shook the room; more mortar-dust fell from the ceiling. The lightless black eyes were dead, unfeeling, but the mouth, Kaiba's mouth, was still curled in a sardonic smile. The monster had him completely in its power.  
Yami's eyes blazed pure fire at the monster, but his face blanched in fear. And when _Yami _was afraid, you knew you were screwed. Though it might have had something to do with his love dancing with death mere feet in front of him.  
Blue-Eyes was getting antsy. She'd had enough of sitting around waiting for fresh meat, and voiced her disapproval, roaring loud and long. Then she broke down the wall.

**Maria Elena**

Mari-el-san quickly assessed the situation. One bishie in immediate danger, one bishie staring at the bishie in immediate danger, one evil monster holding a knife to the bishie's neck, and one dragon looking hungrily at all present, including the two girls watching all of this.  
"Come on, let's go," whispered Mari-el-san, eyeing the dragon, who for the moment was distracted by the smell of blood. She grasped Hannah's arm and pulled her through the shadows, farther away from the dragon. Also closer to whatever Kaiba was, but she decided not to think about that.  
"Wait," said Hannah, just as quietly. "The last time you went off skulking in shadows you got yourself..." Her voice trailed off, not wanting to say what she'd been going to.  
"Killed," said Mari-el-san, finishing her sentence for her. "Luckily, I'm back. Which is why we have to figure out a plan." She caught a glimpse of Yami's eyes, which were no longer streaked with black but nearly entirely black, stark against his suddenly pale skin. "Quickly, or Yugi might die. "  
Meanwhile, the Blue-Eyes had finished looking around. It wanted a meal. Locking  
its cerulean gaze on Yami, it prepared to strike.  
"What will you do, Pharoah?" sneered whoever it was that looked like Kaiba. "You surely couldn't just watch as I kill this boy, could you? No, that wouldn't do at all, would it? You know what..." He compared the two teens. "He looks just like you. I didn't know that the Pharoah had a twin." He saw Yami's suddenly mutinous gaze. "Perhaps not a twin, then?" Suddenly spying the identical puzzles, he threw back his head and laughed. Wiping his eyes, he chortled, "You don't mean...soul mates, then? That gives an entirely new meaning to the phrase." He caught back ahold of Yugi, who had been attempting to slip away while 'Kaiba' was laughing. "Don't you dare..." he growled, all traces of his good humor gone. He gave a vicious tug on Yugi's hair and pushed the dagger farther into his neck, drawing more drops of crimson that trickled down the teen's neck. "I guess I'll just have to kill you now, then," he snarled. Yami, who so far had been rooted to the spot, let out an inhuman roar and dove towards 'Kaiba'. At that very moment, the Blue-Eyes struck. A pillar of flame burst through the air where Yami had just been standing. Without saying anything, Mari-el-san dove for the ground, pulling Hannah along with her. The fire singed the girls' hair, but did nothing else except scatter them with ash.  
"Er...thanks." said Hannah.  
"No problem," said Mari-el-san, brushing herself off. "You've got ash on your glasses, by the way. And we'd better move. Our plan's just going to be to improvise, OK?"  
"Wait..." said Hannah, but her friend had already started towards the knot of people in the middle. She hurried after her.  
Mari-el-san, not sure how best to save the two bishies, was contemplating the best way to approach them when she suddenly noticed that a) Hannah had caught up to her and b) they were standing next to the Blue-Eyes. She almost let out a shriek, but clapped a hand over her mouth in time, trying not to attract attention. Then she realized that rather, it was the Blue-Eyes who was standing next to them.  
Mari-el-san, having gotten over her initial fear, looked up at the dragon that usually served only Kaiba. Seeing its eyes, she let out a gasp. In the deep pools of its eyes she saw only sadness at what Kaiba had become, not at all what she'd been expecting from a dragon that had just nearly killed them all. As if in a trance, she reached out and touched the dragon's snout, carefully. As she did this, she heard a sharp intake of breath from close by and a metallic clang from across the room. Broken out of her trance, she looked toward the sound. Kaiba had apparently dropped the knife. Clutching his head, he sank to his knees, appearing to be doing battle inside his own head.  
Near this pitiful scene, Yami and Yugi stood. "Are you all right?" Yami asked softly, wiping some blood off the smaller boy's neck. Yugi didn't answer, but stood up taller and kissed his yami's lips.  
Mari-el-san shrugged. "Life's a lot like jazz," she said, turning to Hannah. "It's best when you improvise."

**Hannah**

Hannah frowned as Maria Elena surveyed the scene. Kaiba was strong, he'd beat the darkness. The dragon was a friend, and the currently-making-out-rather-graphically couple across the room was obviously fine. This was all wrong. The story _couldn't _be over yet; try as she might to convince herself otherwise, she was having _fun._ Gazing into her mind's eye, she saw the friend that wasn't her friend, and the her that wasn't her: her creator, her dreamer, her jealous half and the one who made this all possible. She gave her a swift mental jab. The girl flinched slightly, her hand moving unconsciously to pick up a pen, her eyes still closed. The thing was uncapped, and as she leaned her head on said hand, a frown creasing her brow, it scribbled a bit on her cheekbone. The black ink stood out sharply on her pale skin. Then the thought crossed both minds simultaneously...Bakura.

Jolted back to reality by a hand waving in front of her face, she heard Maria Elena's voice: "Earth to Hannah - you may want to see what Yugi and Yami are doing - " Hannah looked, flushed a bright shade of crimson and started to take pict - I mean...both girls politely averted their eyes until the two boys finished their make-out session and fairly _skipped_ over to where they were standing, hair disheveled and - was one of Yugi's shirt-buttons in the wrong hole? Quite a few of Yami's definitely were.

"What's wrong with you two...?" Yugi asked innocently, eyeing the girls (one giggling furiously, the other trying to stop her; both blushing redder than normally possible). His eyes sparkled cutely as he looked from one to the other in angelic confusion. At least, Yami thought so. He pulled the smaller teen into another deep kiss, as Hannah giggled even harder and Maria Elena stopped trying to stifle her, letting out a weak chuckle of her own. When the two spiky-headed boys finally managed to pull apart, Yugi was too winded and red-faced to say anything just at that moment, so Yami took over.

"Good job, girls. It looks like we've won." His now-back-to-crimson eyes were full of pride and shame; for he knew he'd caused as much of the chaos as the worst of the villains.

"Not quite," came the startling reply from Hannah. As all turned to look at her, she turned her head away from them; hiding the odd half-smile that took her lips without her full permission.

"And just _what_ do you mean by that?" Maria Elena asked suspiciously. She poked Hannah in the cheek.

Hannah shot her a murderous glare, rubbing the offended cheek. "I _mean..." _she gestured to the albino slumped against the wall. With his hair mussed and slipping across his face, it was impossible to tell which one he was. "What about Bakura?"

Yugi, kind and caring soul that he was, started to walk over to him. Started to. His yami jumped in front of him before he'd gone two paces, growling, "No. I am _not _going to let anyone else try to use you as leverage. Especially not," at this he shot the white-haired teen a flaming glare, "that _tomb_ _robber_ over there." With that, he stalked huffily to the slumped form. "Hey tomb robber." He dealt the boy a sharp kick in the arm. "Are you alive?" he asked, tone indicating that to be so would be the worst possible insult.

"Pharaoh..." Yugi scampered over, taking his partner by the arm. "That's not very nice. What if it's Ryou?" At the mention of the name, the silvery head jerked, and a hand shot out like a claw, fastening itself securely on Yugi's ankle. The teen squeaked and almost lost his balance, latching his arms securely around the Pharaoh's waist to keep himself upright. Yami didn't look too displeased with _that _turn of events...but then the shaggy white mane moved -

- and the Pharaoh's proud crimson eyes were staring into bloody, cruel red ones. Bakura's mouth curled into a sadistic grin. "Hello, great Pharaoh'_..."_ he said lazily, sarcasm dripping off his voice. He was still slumped against the wall, eyes half-closed; he didn't seem to have the strength to pull himself all the way upright. His face was flecked with blood; half dried, some fresh from the wound on the back of his head. His tongue darted out and licked a droplet off his lower lip, as a fresh stream oozed its way down his forehead and beside his nose.

"Oh no, he's bleeding," said Hannah worriedly, stating the obvious. She pulled some gauze and bandages out of Maria Elena's never-ending pocket and hurried over to the half-dead bishie. As she wiped away some of the blood, she noticed...his skin looked a heck of a lot tanner; and...yes! There was that scar. "H-hey guys..." she wavered, "I think you ought to see this! It _is _tomb robber Bakura! From the Ancient Egypt arc." Maria Elena understood this, whereas Yami and Yugi exchanged confused glances. Hannah saw this, and attempted to elaborate. "You know...Yami: Pharaoh; Yugi wasn't there; Egyptian gods; explosions; Diabound?" The boys got the message, despite its garbled delivery.

Bakura grinned at their discovery. He made a vague hand gesture; his clothes rippled and became his red-dyed cloak; his ancient Egyptian garb. The change seemed to empower him, for he stood and took Hannah by the hand. "Thank you, my dear," he said chivalrously, bowing low and kissing her hand. Hannah couldn't seem to pull herself away from his grip. The hand closed on her wrist now, and the other caught her jaw, forcing her to look the madman in the eye. Her friends looked on in horror as her pupils dilated, muddy brown irises drowned in black. Yami's keen, magic-attuned eyes saw the dark shadow magic being pushed into her almost-willing body by way of the thief king's hands, and hurriedly shot a pulse of his own magic to break his grip. Too hurriedly. Bakura deflected the haphazard ball of dark energy without so much as looking at it. The others watched tensely as Hannah's mouth continued to slacken, blackness dominating her eyes...then Bakura's hands jerked and he threw her away, staring at them as though they had been burned.

Then Ryou Bakura walked in through the doorway. He wandered straight up to his yami and placed trembling hands on the shocked Egyptian's shoulders. The teen had a steely glint in his brown eyes, but his voice wavered as he began slowly, "Now I will tell you what I've done for you. _Fifty thousand tears I've cried... _Screaming, deceiving and bleeding for you...and you _still won't hear me..."_

_"_I recognize that!" Maria Elena hissed to no one in particular. "It's from _Going Under _by Evanescence! It...it fits," she finished lamely. "What the hell is going on?"

_**Maria Elena**_

Cold. Clear. No messed up human emotions to clutter her thoughts up. Yes, Hannah though, this was for the best. She surveyed the scene coldly with coal-black eyes. Traitors. Every one of them. Except for Bakura, the Thief Bakura. He would be a good servant. How pitiful she had been to think he could ever have been of use to the cause of the traitors. No, she would dispose of all of the rest of them, and then...who knew? Perhaps...She was broken from her musings by the sight of a boy across the room, battling with a greater power. At a glance, she could see that he would lose his battle. The power was a greater, darker power than her own. But who? No matter. Now, which of them to kill first? The girl, perhaps.

Mari-el-san, meanwhile, was trying to figure out what Ryou had meant. Also, where had he learned that song? She was pretty sure that Fallen had been released after Yu-Gi-Oh had come out, and anyway, she was pretty sure that Ryou wouldn't listen to Evanescence. It just didn't all fit. She sang a bit more of the song quietly, stroking the Blue-Eyes' nose as if to ask it if it had any ideas. _Blurring and stirring - the truth and the lies.(So I don't know what's real) So I don't know what's real and what's not (and what's not)_It made too much sense. She gave the Blue-Eyes' nose a final pat and glanced over at Kaiba, who as far as she knew was the one that the entire situation hinged on.

She made a tiny hand motion towards the Thief. He pushed Ryou away, and pulled the Millennium Rod that he had picked up stealthily earlier out of a pocket in his robe. He threw it and Hannah caught it, unerring as always. She flicked the knife open with a soft click.

Mari-el-san felt a cold pressure against her throat and looked back a second too late, into Hannah's newly darker-than-ebony eyes. _And I could not find eyes like yours, _she sang bitterly, whisper-quiet. The Rod-dagger pressed slightly harder, and a teardrop of blood traced its path down her neck, bright against her suddenly pale skin. She reached to the Blue-Eyes for support, but Hannah, having thought of this, sent a bolt of darkness at the Blue-Eyes, rendering it incapable of moving. "_Traitor,_" she hissed at Mari-el-san, who, still white-faced with fear, was attempting to make sense of the situation. "But- Bakura dropped your hand, looking frightened. Shouldn't you be alright?" she whispered.

"I'm perfectly fine, ahou! Better off than you are, at least. Bakura dropped my hand because I am more powerful than he is and he could not stand it. I can see correctly now, now that all your precious honor and nobility has gone." She spoke with a venom that Mari-el-san hadn't heard before, and as she finished, she put more pressure on the knife, so that the tear became a flood.

Now fighting to stay conscious, Mari-el-san sang, "_Yo ho, all together, hoist the colors high...heave ho, thieves and beggars, never shall we die._"

"You stupid-you choose to _sing_! _Now_?"  
"You don't know what that means?" asked Mari-el-san incredulously, expecting that she would have figured it out. "You don't realize that that could have saved my _life_? No? Go ahead and try it. Do it." She looked Hannah in square in the eye and said, her eyes burning with the flame of rebellion, "Kill me...Mishka-chan." Her eyes glistening with unshed tears, she sang again. _Fear is only in our minds, but it's taking over all the time._All traces of the fear she'd had previously disappeared from her eyes as se closed her eyes. The dagger was so close...

A pinprick of light that Mari-el-san could not see appeared in Hannah's eyes at the mention of her nickname, growing steadily larger. Her hand shook, and the Millennium Rod dropped from her hand. For the first time, she truly saw her friend's blood-soaked shirt, and she gently lowered the now-unconscious girl to the floor, kneeling beside her. As the last of the dark left her eyes, the curse lifted from her without her noticing and flew straight at Kaiba, where it was absorbed into his body. This seemed to decide Kaiba's battle, and he stood up with eyes darker than Hannah's had been. "Forgive me for not introducing myself earlier," he said coldly, with no remorse in his voice. "I am Zorc Necrophades." Hannah, remembering recent events, murmured, "Lord..." while still keeping her head bowed. Necrophades heard even this small sound and turned towards it. "YOU!" he roared. "YOU have failed me!!" Without warning, the night exploded from his fingertips. Hannah was blown backwards and hit the wall behind her, her face deathly white. Her glasses landed next to her, miraculously unbroken.

Mari-el-san stirred. She sat up a moment later, fingering the scar that the ordeal had left on her neck. Then she saw Hannah's prone form. "_Hannah?_" she whispered, and hurried over to her, not noticing her weak legs or Necrophades' eyes following her progress. "Oh my God, _no_! Hannah!" Her breath caught in her throat. She grabbed Hannah's wrist. She could feel a small movement, no more. A _pulse..._Relief washed over her, and a moment later she was joined by Yami and Yugi. "That was meant to be a killing curse," Maria Elena whispered. "But yet it didn't...Awful way to prove a theory, but at least you're alive, Hannah."

Yami and Yugi exchanged confused looks, but said nothing. For the moment.

--

I hope people aren't getting _too_ confused...if you're having trouble understanding something, please feel free to ask me in a review. There might be some things I didn't notice that only Mari el-san and I have talked about. -fussfussworry- oo;


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